Regular Season Game 3 - November 05, 2009 CET: 20:00 Local time: 21:00 - NOKIA ARENA

Records

Ave.   Ave.
0-0 Final Four 0-0
0-0 Playoffs 0-0
0-0 Top 16 0-0
1-1 Regular Season 1-1
1-1 Overall 1-1

Referees

Crew Chief
LAMONICA, LUIGI, Italy
Referee
JOVCIC, MILIVOJE, Serbia
Umpire
ANASTOPOULOS, PANAGIOTIS, Greece

Team Stats

Ave.   Ave.
83.0 Points 67.5
30.0 Rebounds 27.5
7.5 O. Rebounds 6.0
22.5 D. Rebounds 21.5
14.5 Assists 11.5
9.0 Steals 7.0
7.0 Blocks 3.0
14.5 Turnovers 15.0
55.6 % 2PT 53.3 %
50.0 % 3PT 40.5 %
70.2 % FT 78.8 %
92.5 Index 71.0

Player Stats

Ave.   Ave.
15.5 / WISNIEWSKI, ANDREW Points 14.0 / HOLDEN, J.R.
6.5 / Lasme Rebounds 7.0 / Khryapa
1.5 / Lasme OR 1.5 / Planinic
5.5 / Lampe DR 6.5 / Khryapa
4.0 / Eidson Assists 5.0 / Khryapa
2.5 / Eidson Steals 2.5 / Khryapa
3.5 / Fischer Blocks 2.0 / Khryapa
3.5 / ANDERSON, ALAN Turnovers 3.5 / Khryapa
100.0 % / GREEN, YANIV 2PT 100.0 % / Sokolov
100.0 % / BLU, DAVID 3PT 100.0 % / SISKAUSKAS, RAMUNAS
100.0 % / Lampe FT 100.0 % / SISKAUSKAS, RAMUNAS
17.0 / WISNIEWSKI, ANDREW Index 14.5 / Planinic

THE TAKE

Another chapter in one of European basketball’s greatest rivalries will be written on Thursday when Maccabi Electra hosts CSKA Moscow at Tel Aviv’s Nokia Arena. The two teams met just two years ago in the Euroleague title game in Madrid and two years before that in the title game in Prague. CSKA won both times. They also met in the Euroleague semifinals in 2004 in Tel Aviv, with Maccabi winning on its way to the title. Along the way there have been many other memorable meetings. However only a handful of the players set to take the court on Thursday took part in those games and they will all be focused on this one. Maccabi looks to bounce back after a tough loss at Caja Laboral last week, while CSKA aims to do the same after falling at home to Roma. Both teams feature great depth at every position, though there are a few matchups that stand out above the rest as keys to this game. One is at shooting guard, where Alan Anderson looks to lead the Maccabi attack against CSKA star Trajan Langdon, who is back after missing last week’s game due to illness. And at small forward, Chuck Eidson will test himself against former Euroleague MVP Ramunas Siskauskas. With those players among the most important on their teams, if one side can dominate on the wings, it will gain a distinct advantage. In the paint, Maccabi leans on the versatile Maciej Lampe for points and has shot-blocker D’Or Fischer and bruising Yaniv Green set to tackle CSKA centers Dmitry Sokolov and Sasha Kaun, while Maccabi power forward Stephane Lasme pits his athleticism against Viktor Khryapa and Ivan Radenovic. Of course the tide of the game could turn at the point guard spot, where Andrew Wisniewski and Doron Perkins will split minutes for Maccabi against J.R. Holden and Zoran Planinic. The latter can throw a wrench into any defense due to his combination of height, speed and court vision, which led him to score 22 last week. Of course Maccabi’s specialty is offense, not defense, which leads to the central battle of the point guards, to dictate the rhythm and tempo. Maccabi leads the league with a 50% success rate from downtown and if its guards can keep the pace high and generate more points, the hosts become the clear favorites. However if Holden and Planinic take charge, CSKA becomes the favorite in a half-court duel. But with the great talent on the floor and the coaching geniuses on the benches, much could happen in 40 exciting minutes before a winner is declared.

REFEREES: Luigi Lamonica, Milivoje Jovcic, Panagiotis Anastopoulos


GAME NOTES

Maccabi Electra

Derrick Sharp has lost to CSKA twice in Euroleague title games. He came off the bench for Maccabi when it lost to CSKA in 2006 in Prague and in 2008 in Madrid.

Center Maciej Lampe and CSKA guard Anton Ponkrashov were teammates over the last two seasons at Khimki Moscow Region. They helped the team reach the 2009 Eurocup title game.

Andrew Wisniewski played alongside CKSA big man Nikita Kurbanov last season at Spartak St. Petersburg.

Point guard Andrew Wisniewski has made at least one three-pointer in each of his last eight Euroleague games.

Chuck Eidson has recorded a steal in each of his last nine Euroleague appearances.

David Bluthenthal has made 18 consecutive free throws over his past eight Euroleague games.

CSKA Moscow

Trajan Langdon is now just 4 points behind Panathinaikos’s Sarunas Jasikevicius for 10th place on the Euroleague career scoring charts. Langdon has scored 1,797 points in his Euroleague career.

Trajan Langdon was named Final Four MVP in 2007 after recording 21 points on near-perfect shooting, 7 rebounds and 2 steals for a career-best 33 index in the championship game as CSKA beat Maccabi 77-91.

Ramunas Siskauskas and Maccabi forward David Bluthenthal were teammates at Benetton Treviso in the 2004-05 season.

Siskauskas has scored in double figures in six consecutive Euroleague appearances.

Head coach Evgeny Pashutin played in Israel during the 1999-2000 season for Maccabi Ra’anana. His head coach there was current Maccabi assistant Sharon Drucker.

Pashutin coached Maccabi point guard Andrew Wisniewski last season at Spartak St. Petersburg.
Wednesday, November 04, 2009
Euroleague.net

Quotes Head Coaches

GERSHON, PINI
Maccabi Electra
"Last week we faced our 2005 finals opponent, and now it's the team we faced the following year in the finals, and it shows not only how much tradition there is in the Euroleague, but also who we need to face in this group. CSKA in any roster is a strong and dangerous team. I don't remember when was the last time they lost the first two games in the Euroleague, so obviously it makes our job more difficult. They still have champion players as Siskauskas, Holden, Langdon and more, so I don't suggest anyone to under-estimate them. We play in our home arena, and need to get back on the winning track. I hope our fans and the great tradition of Maccabi against CSKA will our current roster to make the difference."
PASHUTIN, EVGENY
CSKA Moscow
"Maccabi is a strong and deep team, which has excellent players at every position. First of all, I’d like to mention Wisniewski, who played for me in St. Petersburg last season. He is the engine of the team, the player who defines the style. Eidson is a great player as well, he was the Eurocup 2009 MVP and can play every position from 1 to 3. Wisniewski, Eidson, Anderson and Perkins form very dangerous, aggressive, all-around backcourt. As for the ‘bigs’, the team has shooter Lampe, athletic Fischer and Lasme and experienced Green. Pini Gershon’s style implies fast basketball as his team scores around half of points on fast breaks, especially in Nokia Arena where the crowd pushes the team. To be successful there, we should try to slow them down, to pay more attention to rebounding, but at the same time not focus on defense only. You can win in Tel Aviv even allowing 70 or 80 points. It is important that we have a full roster except for Smodis, and that brings more confidence to us."

Players

WISNIEWSKI, ANDREW
Maccabi Electra
"Controlling the tempo of this game will be a key element in grabbing our second home win in the Euroleague. I love the way we put pressure on the opponent guards and our running game, but we still need to work on our game. We mainly should concentrate now on the things we do well, and try to make them chase after us and make adjustments."
PONKRASHOV, ANTON
CSKA Moscow
"I know Pini Gershon’s style very well, because David Blatt uses its elements in the Russian national team as well as Kestutis Kemzura, who coached me at Khimki. Also I know most of the players well, first of all my former teammate Lampe. The team demonstrates fast basketball: coach Pashutin even used the old saying about the Brazilian style – ‘you will score as much as you can, but we will score as much as we want.’ Besides, Maccabi is very dangerous on perimeter – only Lasme and Fischer do not shoot from outside. I expect the game to be interesting and difficult."
Chuck Eidson - Maccabi ElectraMaccabi Electra remained undefeated at home by whipping traditional rival CSKA Moscow 71-54 in front of a packed house at Nokia Arena in Tel Aviv. Maccabi scored the first 10 points of the game and never looked back as it improved to 2-1 in Group C. Next week the Israeli champs travel to Italy for a showdown with group leader Lottomatica Roma. Meanwhile CSKA dropped its second in a row and the Russian champs will look to regroup next week when they host Union Olimpia. Chuck Eidson led a well-balanced Maccabi attack with 16 points, Maciej Lampe added 15, Stephane Lasme 14, Alan Anderson 13 and Doron Perkins posted 7 points, 7 rebounds and 6 assists. Ramunas Siskauskas paced CSKA with 12 in defeat. CSKA was doomed by the 24 turnovers and its 3-for-21 three-point shooting.

Maccabi struck first as Anderson dished to Lasme, who banked in the game’s first points. Anderson added a triple and Eidson scored in the paint, while the CSKA offense struggled, committing 4 turnovers in the first three minutes. Eidson struck from downtown to make it 10-0 before Andrey Vorontsevich ended six-and-a-half scoreless minutes for CSKA. J.R. Holden went coast to coast for his team’s second basket and Zoran Planinic’s basket-plus-foul narrowed the gap to 12-7. Still a Lampe hook, an acrobatic basket by Anderson and an Eidson triple built a 19-7 lead for the hosts after 10 minutes.

Lasme stretched the Maccabi lead to 14 before Siskauskas got on the scoreboard for CSKA. Viktor Khryapa’s basket and a Siskauskas three quieted the home crows until a confident Lasme stepped outside and hit a rare jump shot. Lampe corrected his own miss as the lead reached 30-14. Dimitry Sokolov threw down a two-handed jam only to see Lampe match him with a baseline jumper. Lampe continued to pound away, first sinking a three-pointer from the corner and after Holden scored for CSKA, Lampe added a free throw. Anderson was next with a basket to take the lead to 20. Khryapa scored a nifty basket in the paint and Anton Ponkrashov drove for another score as CSKA slowly crept back and Planinic hit twice from the line with 2.5 seconds left in the half, but Maccabi called timeout and drew up an incredible two-pass play for an Anderson slam at the buzzer to keep the hosts ahead 40-25 at the halftime break.

Ramunas Siskauskas - Maccabi ElectraKhryapa made a free throw to start the second half, but Maccabi picked up where it left off as Anderson and Lasme scored to stretch the lead to 18. Siskauskas answered back with a three-pointer only to see Lampe match him from Lampe. Trajan Langdon scored his first points of the game from the line and then his steal led to a Khryapa layup. Siskauskas brought the visitors within 47-35 as CSKA refused to go away. A Nikita Kurbanov slam cut the gap to 11, but soon Perkins sliced through the CSKA defense twice for layups that restored a 16-point cushion as Maccabi took a 56-40 lead into the fourth quarter.

Siskauskas banked in a jumper only to see Perkins drill a three at the other end. Anderson tried to put the finishing touches on the game, but his steal and coast-to-coast drive resulted in a missed dunk. But a minute later Anderson completed a pretty penetration for a short jumper. After Holden scored, Maccabi poured it on with baskets from D’Or Fischer and Eidson taking the lead to 23. With the outcome in the bag, Maccabi head coach Pini Gershon let captain Derrick Sharp play out the final minutes as the hosts wrapped up a big win.
Thursday, November 05, 2009
Euroleague.net
Referees: LAMONICA, LUIGI (ITA), JOVCIC, MILIVOJE (SRB), ANASTOPOULOS, PANAGIOTIS (GRE)
Attendance: 11000
By Quarter1234
Maccabi Electra19211615
CSKA Moscow7181514
End of Quarter1234
Maccabi Electra19405671
CSKA Moscow7254054
Head coach: GERSHON, PINI
Maccabi Electra
# Player Min Pts 2FG
M-A
3FG
M-A
FT
M-A
Rebounds As St To Bl Fouls PIR
O D T Fv Ag Cm Rv
4 MEKEL, GAL 0:59                   1         -1
6 SHARP, DERRICK 2:59     0/1           1       2   -2
7 WISNIEWSKI, ANDREW 27:38   0/2 0/4   1   1 4   1   1 2   -5
8 PERKINS, DORON 20:14 7 2/4 1/3 0/1   7 7 6 1 2 1   3 2 14
9 GREEN, YANIV 2:54   0/1       1 1                
10 PNINI, GUY 7:33     0/1           1       2 1 -1
11 ANDERSON, ALAN 30:36 13 5/13 1/3 0/2   3 3 3 3 1   1 3 4 9
12 LASME, STEPHANE 31:31 14 6/8   2/2 3 3 6   2 3 2   2 1 18
13 EIDSON, CHUCK 30:01 16 3/5 3/5 1/2   2 2 2 4 6     2 2 13
14 LAMPE, MACIEJ 23:39 15 4/8 2/3 1/2 3 2 5 2 2       2 2 18
15 BLU, DAVID 8:29     0/1   2 2 4 1 1       1   4
21 FISCHER, D'OR 13:27 6 1/4   4/4 4 3 7     1     1 3 11
Team           1 1 2               2
Totals 200:00 71 21/45 7/21 8/13 14 24 38 18 15 15 3 2 20 15 80
46.7% 33.3% 61.5%
Min: Minutes played; Pts: Points; 2FG M-A: 2-point Field Goals (Made-Attempted); 3FG M-A: 3-point Field Goals (Made-Attempted); FT M-A: Free Throws (Made-Attempted); Rebounds: O (Offensive), D (Defensive), T (Total); As: Assists; St: Steals; To: Turnovers; Bl: Blocks (Fv: In Favor / Ag: Against); Fouls: Cm (Commited), Rv (Received); PIR: Performance Index Rating
Head coach: PASHUTIN, EVGENY
CSKA Moscow
# Player Min Pts 2FG
M-A
3FG
M-A
FT
M-A
Rebounds As St To Bl Fouls PIR
O D T Fv Ag Cm Rv
5 KURBANOV, NIKITA 12:29 2 1/2 0/2   1 2 3   1 1     1   1
7 KEYRU, VICTOR 5:02 3 1/1 0/1 1/1         1 1       1 3
9 SISKAUSKAS, RAMUNAS 25:10 12 2/2 2/6 2/2   2 2     3   1   1 7
10 HOLDEN, J.R. 32:59 6 3/4 0/5     5 5 1 1 3     2   2
18 PONKRASHOV, ANTON 14:34 8 1/3 1/2 3/5   1 1 1   1   1 2 5 6
20 VORONTSEVICH, ANDREY 22:08 4 2/3 0/1   1 4 5     1     2 2 6
21 LANGDON, TRAJAN 28:05 4 1/3 0/2 2/2 1 3 4 4 2 2     1 2 9
24 KAUN, SASHA 12:14       0/2 2   2       1   3 2  
30 SOKOLOV, DMITRY 8:03 2 1/3   0/2           2   1 2 1 -6
31 KHRYAPA, VICTOR 25:03 7 3/4 0/2 1/2   8 8 2 1 7 1     1 9
34 PLANINIC, ZORAN 14:13 6 1/1   4/5   1 1 1 1 3     2 5 8
55 RADENOVIC, IVAN DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Team           2 2 4               4
Totals 200:00 54 16/26 3/21 13/21 7 28 35 9 7 24 2 3 15 20 49
61.5% 14.3% 61.9%
This game is not yet played

Head Coaches

GERSHON, PINI
Maccabi Electra

"We showed that we can win Euroleague games with our defense, and that's a good thing. We played defense correctly, and I want to also give credits to Alan Anderson who defended Langdon very well. In the second quarter we made some mistakes that helped them come back, but we fixed them in the second half. This win is very important for us, also because we got a good margin for the future. In such a low scoring game 17 points difference is a lot."
PASHUTIN, EVGENY
CSKA Moscow

"It's never easy to play in Nokia Arena. The first quarter decided the game. We spoke a lot about Maccabi's transition game, but we didn't stop their fast breaks. In the second half we played better and found our rhythm, but we couldn't catch up with Maccabi. We made too many turnovers and couldn't get things done. We’ve got a lot of work to do to make our situation better in the group. We need to look at ourselves and not at what our opponent did today."

Players

ANDERSON, ALAN
Maccabi Electra
"The first half made the difference. We wanted to make a lot of stops because the offense starts in defense. As long as we create more stops we could run better and it will be more difficult to beat us."
LASME, STEPHANE
Maccabi Electra

"We're getting better and better every game, but we could still play better than today. It was my best game since I arrived to Maccabi and I'm very happy about it, but it's not my peak. I hope to keep bringing games like this and more in the future."
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